The Shadowed Jail
by The Lady Destiny
Summary: The scepter matched his eyes. That's all she could think as she glanced between the black haired man who walked the corridors, surrounding the office on the helicarrier. She let out a gust of air as he met her eyes...and smirked. OC story here Tony/OC Thor/OC
1. This is how I show my love

As CEO of Stark & Vinci Industries, Anna had a lot of responsibilities.

She hired, fired, and had to deal with financing, safety regulations, sales, PR and even marketing. Anna didn't have a lot of free time. Now being co-CEO one would think the role would be easier, and yes Tony usually managed to do _some_ work during the day, especially if Anna pretended to be mad at him. Unfortunately Stark & Vinci Industries was also a big enough company that even with two CEOs it meant a lot of work. It only made sense for her to hire on new people.

But being a superhero?

There was no hiring more people for that. The best she could do was hope that the criminals decided that they wanted to take a day off the same day that she did. If she was lucky they wouldn't wait until night to do a crime. She hated getting up out of her bed to break up a robbing that could have been accomplished without her. But she knew the moment she dropped her attention something would happen, it always does, just like the incident in Afghanistan. She lets herself do something stupid like agree to go to an active war zone.

Bam!

Kidnapped.

On this line of thought, she couldn't fathom why she had agreed to what she was doing now. It's not so much that she didn't want to meet the guy, but Anna had a place to be and she wouldn't dare not be there.

To be clear, Anna was meeting with the man known as Captain America, or Steve Rogers to be clearer. Him stepping out in the streets in full Captain America gear would cause a riot the likes of which New York has not seen before. Yes, even New York. Call her crazy but Anna didn't idolize the man as much as others did.

She thinks that maybe it's because she spent her youth running around with Tony acting out all of his adventures. Some people would say that would make her want to meet him more. No. Anna really just wanted to shake his hand and move along, there was no appeal. Anna had been around Tony for too long to care about meeting famous people.

And Captain America is very famous. The roar of people who had nearly had seizures when it was let slip that Captain America was found alive, and walking among them, had been so massive that Anna had gotten three days off. The crime rate had dropped ten percent in three days. Alas, now wasn't the time for Anna to care about whether or not she had work to do or not. The simple fact was that she had just dropped into the back of one of the cafés that she owned in New York, and was sweeping through the kitchen to get to her meeting on time.

It wasn't her fault that she was late. It was the twenty times she had to stop between here and Washington to stop a crime. The life of a superhero could be hard. The rich heir to one of the oldest families of Italian decent _knew _that she could not save everyone but if she was there and had the power to stop it she wanted to do it.

Brushing herself off and tugging at the tight fit of her yoga outfit, one of the few things that she enjoyed wearing under the Mark III, so that it didn't cling on her so much. The café was a nice home-like place, and even had a few couches and chairs, more than they had actual tables and chairs. The Barista balked at Anna, still not used to seeing her just walking through. Anna nodded, hopping she would bring her usual. Anna had been here going on every Friday and Thursday for three months, working on the Tower.

"Ms. Vinci," The Barista hurried over to her, cheeks flushed and the apron in her hands. If Anna wanted to she could call the woman homely, a Mrs. Weasley type she liked to call them. But really Anna liked her, even if the coffee maker did have a case of star struck every time Anna met her. "Can I get your usual?"

"Of course." Anna smiled, patting down her pants and wincing. "You'll have to put it on my tab I'm afraid." Looking around Anna didn't see the man she was looking for. In one hand she held a loose grip on a small bag and a special bracelet on her other wrist. The Barista nodded and smiled, hustling back behind the bar to take more orders, and to shout out her order with the mass of others. The café had a lot of business lately.

Anna cautiously pushed the pair of sunglasses that she brought with her, tucked into a case in her suit in the back, up her nose. It was amazing the lack of recognition Anna could get away with if she acted like she was one of them. So many celebrities acted odd, not understanding how someone would act if they weren't famous. Anna was born into rich parents and now she was even more recognized, yet here she was walking down the streets of New York and not being attacked by cameras and fans.

Shuffling towards the door Anna maneuvered out of the way of the people mingling around. Anna pushed the door open, getting a rush of New York's questionably fresh air. The moment she stepped out of the door Anna knew who Steve Rogers was and where he was sitting. It's not that he was being overtly Patriotic, more so the awkward air that hung around the man. He had the same look of when he was in the old reels that she used to watch with Tony when they stole Howard's old tapes. If she was drinking the night before she might have been prone to think she was dreaming.

The blond haired man with his old fashioned…everything really, was glancing around while also managing to use what used to be a fountain pen to doodle on a napkin. He had a cup of what would probably be a plain coffee, as Anna highly doubted that he knew any of the new crazy hipster combinations. Sighing, Anna pushed up her sun glasses and stepped out of the door towards the man. She had to manage to weave through many of the outside tables and chairs but, she managed to get a glimpse of what the Captain had been doodling before she sat down.

The Tower.

It made Anna preen that he would draw it but it also reminded her that she had something to do after this, a date. "Hello, Mr. Rogers." She greeted as the man turned his eyes to his new companion. He looked like a man caught in headlights. Although, with his current attire Anna felt a strange kind of pity for the man.

Steve Rogers had been frozen for so many years that he didn't even know that plaid had gone out of style years ago, at least when it was buttoned up and paired with a brown leather jacket. Maybe it was just Anna and her upbringing that made her think like this but the man acted like the old men she'd seen around, but with a young man's body. He even looked lost and compared with her bright colors and tight clothing Anna felt like she was dressed as a harlot. If he jumped up and shouted Shakespeare she wouldn't be surprised, even if he wasn't quite that old.

"Um, you must be the Agent that Director Fury sent…" Rogers drifted off, swallowing and smiling sheepishly. His cheeks reddened and his gaze changed from loss to awe, but Anna didn't notice. She was too busy gratefully taking her tea from the waitress who had bustled out.

The drink itself was almost a work of art, and Anna felt like she was going to have to snap a picture and tweet it. The only problem being that Anna didn't tweet, or facebook, or even something like MySpace, she'd long since decided that she didn't much like social media and all its easy entrapments.

"Yes, call me Anna." She allowed, placing the slightly heavy bag onto the table in between them. "I hope you don't mind that I'm late, but I had to stop a few times on the way over here." Anna tried. This time the rich woman did see the rosy tint to Captain Rogers' cheeks, but it didn't mean anything to her, only that perhaps he was upset with her.

"It's alright, um, did you see the um…" Rogers trailed off, and then cleared his throat. "Did you see Iron Woman perchance?" Anna blinked behind her glasses, and her eyebrows furrowed as she followed his hand to where it was making vague gestures to the back of the café. "She just landed behind there. Everyone here was in a rush to see her."

So, Rogers couldn't tell it was her. Not that Anna could blame him. If he could barely keep up with how to watch video on a computer there was no chance he would be able to get old newspapers to see that the person in front of him _is _Iron Woman. "Hmmm…" Anna said instead, not commenting. Come to think of it the Captain didn't seem all that awestruck by the idea of meeting Iron Woman, he only seemed to be trying to make conversation. "A lot of people want to meet her I guess. It's not for me; I'm not a celebrity person." She smiled.

"But," Anna gestured behind her with her hand to the new shining tower. She wasn't going to lie; the slick outer covering of the building along with its wonderful insides was her pride and joy right now, besides her suits. The building only had the last name Stark on it, but that was alright with her. It was for all intents and purposes a company building but the penthouse was all for Tony and her, with multiple floors and it even accommodated the suits. "If you want to see her you might want to watch closer to the Stark Tower. They've been flying back and forth for the last few months."

Rogers looked to the building and then glanced down at the napkin with the doodle on it.

"That's a nice piece of art; you're really good at it." Anna praised, wondering if he'd gone to a college to get that good, and she could admit that he could draw well. She couldn't draw anything; it just wasn't in her list of talents. "Kind of speaks to me." She grinned, trying to show that she didn't really know that much about art. Anna couldn't help but think, as his cheeks reddened and he flushed, that he must have been a really shy Captain.

"Thank you, ma'am." He muttered, dropping the pen in his hand to rub the fingers of that hand together. "I don't mean to bother you, but what exactly is the point of the building?" He asked, glancing back to the building.

"Oh, the stated reason or the real reason?" Anna giggled, looking over her shoulder. "Well, it's mostly a place for inventions, called R&D. It's what Tony Stark specializes in. He and Anna Vinci make most of the products. When they don't, a special team of scientists do. The real reason is really so they have a place to hide out." She pointed to the top of the building, above the lip on the top that had Stark in bold letters that lit up bolted to its metal. "See the top most floors have rooms in them, to live in." She turned back.

"And the real reason?" The Captain asked. Anna thought about it, mulling it over in her head before she pressed the sunglasses closer to her face from where it had slipped.

"Well, to be honest I think it symbolizes something." She took this moment to take a long sip of her drink. "It's kind of a symbol of hope, for all kinds of people that Iron Woman and Iron man are both a force to be taken seriously, that they won't be divided. 'Cause they both will live up there, together." She grinned, her own eyes behind the shield that was her glasses twinkling and a strange parody of Dumbledore. The thought of being compared to a Harry Potter character made her blink and take another sip of Vanilla flavored tea.

She should have known that going to bed reading the Deathly Hallows would be bad for her brain functions. Her eyes, which had fallen to look at the warm cup of tea in her hands, looked back up to the man in front of her when he started speaking again. "Um, do males and females usually live together now?"

Anna blinked and licked her lips, to get all the sugary taste off of them, and contemplated her answer and the man in front of her. "Yes, generally it's accepted although most people will poke fun at males and females who are not in a relationship and are sharing a home." She took a sip of her tea again, her eyes laughing at Rogers, as she couldn't help it. "But, to get to the reason why I'm here…" She pushed the bag she had been carrying to him, still smiling. "I tried my best, you'll have to contact me if it doesn't cover all the bases."

Captain America opened the bag, where several DVDs were residing, along with a USB. "Thank you, ma'am." He said, blushing in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, I was told you knew the basics of using a DVD. The USB is for later, when you fill more advanced." She laughed, sipping the last of her drink up. "I wouldn't push you to far, to soon."

"What are these for?" He asked, his eyebrows crinkling. Anna's eyebrow rose.

"Director Fury didn't tell you?" Anna asked, not waiting for a response. "What am I thinking? Of course he didn't tell you. These DVDs contain videos of me explaining the basics of living in our society. You'll have to pause it and play it to try it yourself, but I tried my best to explain everything. You'll at least be able to walk down the street without people noticing that you are different." She reached over to pat the hand the Captain had laid down on the table, having zipped it up.

"Thank you, ma'am." The Captain said again, and then jumped. The reason for his jump was obvious as a streak of red and gold flew above the café, and into the top most part of the Stark Tower. It was Tony Stark, as Iron man. Anna grinned, watching the evaporating trail that he had left behind him. Her finger rubbed absently along the band of her hand, finger caressing the ring on her finger that Tony had given her. She couldn't wait.

Speaking of waiting, she couldn't keep Tony waiting.

"If that will be all, Captain." She said, rising from her spot, and shuffling out of the seat, wondering how long it will take Tony and her to get to work on finishing up the tower, not to long she hoped. She had plans for tonight.

"Steve." He said, smiling as he stood up to see her off. She laughed again, free and excited to see Tony. She lifted her hand offering it.

"It was nice to meet you, Steve." She smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure you will get our era figured out before you know it." Steve took her hand, shaking it as if she was made of glass. It made Anna roll her eyes behind her glasses.

If she had looked back at that moment she might have seen Steve Rogers ask the waitress who she was, and she might have seen the waitress laugh at him, as if he was joking.

Instead, she swept off to get in her suit, so excited to get to her date with Tony. Anna didn't have any care for Steve Rogers. When she took off, leaving a stream of cloud behind her repulsors she couldn't see the way Steve's eyes were stuck not on the Iron Woman's form, but on the way that Anna had left.


	2. I made it in my mind because

"What do you think about Bruce Banner?" Anna asked. She moved her legs, having had the appendages fall asleep in the covers. She was so warm and comfortable in the bed. Anna had asked JARVIS to pull the windows out, and move them into the floor. Thankfully she knew she would want to do such, and the floor had been made for it. Tony, from his seat beside her in the bed grunted, scratching manly at his chest. Avriel's nose wrinkled and she looked away and back to her screen.

"Interesting." Tony noted. "Gamma radiation in an attempt to remake the Super Soldier serum…." He started, and Anna could see the light of his inner scientist coming out but Anna couldn't help but mutter what she thought the end of the sentence should be like.

"It sound like something you would do." She grinned, looking at him. "I thought only you would insist on trying out your own inventions. I like him already." She teased, reaching over the side of the bed to pick up a glass of water JARVIS had set out for her. Anna was still doing her best to follow her diet, and her work out system was still great. Nat and Clint had taught her well and as much as she would miss them, she knew that had been needed.

They were the best active agents that S.H.I.E.L.D. currently had besides Phil Coulson.

"Cute." Tony deadpanned and then preceded to grin at her. "I think it's interesting that he would think of gamma radiation as a possible replacement, even Dad didn't' think of that." Tony ran his finger on something on the screen, pulling it to the next page of notes on Bruce Banner and his current whereabouts. "Says that Natashalie is on her way now to retrieve the cuddle bunny." Tony said. Anna glanced down her page, seeing what Tony was seeing on his own screen.

"Yeah, I guess she was called in as well." Anna noted, yawning loudly. The genius had already gone through plenty of Eric Selvig's notes on the tesseract and the report that was half-heartedly scribbled out by the agent on duty. She was interested by the level of particle transfer that could be accomplished by the tesseract, and if they could harness the clean, and unlimited power of the tesseract then they might be able to use it to fuel electricity instead of the Earth. Anna was cautious however; as she knew it could also be used to charge weapons like Hydra did in Captain America's day.

And if S.H.I.E.L.D. was the one investigating it, she had no doubt that somewhere they were making weapons. While Anna had been trying to slowly gain sway over the company, and she had managed to do well with that, it was still mostly Director Fury's responsibility to direct the agents. Hence being the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. but not the owner. Anna blew breath out of her mouth in a large sigh.

"What are the chances that S.H.I.E.L.D. would not find us and drag us in if we don't come home tomorrow?" Anna asked him, taping twice on a personally written message from the Director she had just been thinking about. She barely skimmed over it before she rolled her eyes and deleted it.

The letter had basically been a breakdown of a thank you for helping the Captain at their request and the outcome of the world council. The world council basically opposed the use of the Avengers Initiative and desired a war response. Anna didn't even bother with it, and rolled her eyes to another folder that she hadn't opened, the Thor profile. She scrolled through it, trying to read it as soon as possible.

"About two percent, not factoring in the capacity for changes in weather and natural disasters." Tony deadpanned, looking from his screen to her. Anna's green eyes clashed with his brown and he grinned a little at her. She wrinkled her nose at him, thinking about slapping him at least playfully but she dismissed the idea almost immediately. She was so tired and he would just laugh at her anyways. So instead she returned to her screen, snuggling deeper into the clothes as a gust of wind went by her shoulders.

Nothing interesting came up on Thor that she hadn't already learned but she settled down, because she knew that it was already around three in the morning. They would no doubt not arrive at seven, and she never thought they would. JARVIS can fly the suit with them sleeping in it, a new thought that was a more recent upgrade to JARVIS' systems. She hoped that she could use it, but since the helicarrier is currently so close to New York she doubts that she will be able to appreciate JARVIS' new upgrade GPS and awareness settings.

"Do you think that the helicarrier can be outfitted for underwater travel?" Anna muttered, swiping through the information she had studied all night. Another yawn came out of her and she couldn't stop herself from tugging on the shirt of Tony's she had shrugged on when she had first grown cold.

She pressed on the picture of 'The Hulk' but she couldn't tell what the man's face would look like if the face had been less puffed up. All she knew of Bruce Banner was an old high school picture that they had of him and one of him in the lab almost six years back. She puffed out a groan of air and flipped through his profile information, ignoring the papers that she had read that were laying on the ground below the bed. No doubt one of the robots would sweep it up and put it back in its folder, or shred it.

Absently she started to reach over to grab a paper, after thinking about it. It was only when she felt a brush on her hip, right before the pressure of something landing on her hip. Anna turned, blinking three times before she realized that Tony had fallen asleep on her. She smiled, resting a cautious hand in her hair and brushing her fingers over the crow's feet that were coming in beside his eyes. Tony and she were getting older. She looked at her ring on her hand, and the way it glinted in the lights of the New York lights. It rested on the hand currently playing through the snoozing Tony's hair.

"JARVIS, babe." She whispered, getting a soft beep in return. "Send a message for me to Coulson and let him know we are going to be an hour or two late and set back the alarm set." She wiggled down a little, careful that she didn't move Tony too badly. "And lights, love." She whispered, closing her eyes to the world around her.

**I know it's short, but I thought that it was a cute scene, and I needed it here as transition and a way for you to see Anna and Tony interacting. I know it's taken a long time to get such a small chapter out but I haven't been feeling well, and I fell down some steps that were made of concrete and my left side hurts everywhere. **

**Plus, I've just had a lot of things to do and I can't devote as much time to writing as I used to be able to so the chapters will probably be far and few because of my lack of time and energy that I can devote to writing.**

**Sorry, guys! **

**But, I want to know, for question of the upload, can anyone tell me how old Anna is right now?**


	3. I blame it on my ADD Baby

Anna, it turned out was the only one to awaken that morning. True, JARVIS had set the alarm for both of them, but when the genius awoke from sleeping to find Tony still sleeping, she couldn't bear to wake him up. The man hadn't been sleeping regularly, trying to keep up with the company. If she was honest, Anna did realize that the only reason he was trying to do something with the company was because he wanted to impress her.

For all Anna was concerned the man could do no wrong, so she decided to let him sleep, and told JARVIS not to wake him up until the last minute, if at all possible, not at all. Not that she didn't know that JARVIS was also on Tony's side, and trying to make him look better, Anna knew that. She knew that JARVIS would do anything for his creator, including waking him up subtly and apologizing later.

But right now, Anna had to shake thoughts of Tony out of her head, as she boarded the flight room, or command room, to start giving orders. Besides the Director she was the highest leveling person on the deck, and Fury only matched her rank because he had been active for so much longer than she was.

"Agent Hill." Anna greeted, stepping up to the only Agent that she had ever met that could anger her with one glance. The woman just had an aura around her that made Anna cautious to even make a joke in her presence. "Update?" Anna was determined that she was not going to be as intimidated by her as other agents seemed to be.

"Everything is going as plan, and we are searching the globe for the captured friendlies, as well as Loki, ma'am." Hill reported professionally, but Anna wasn't fooled. It wasn't uncommon for people not to realize that Anan was not just some prim and proper girl who was born into money. Seeing as how her profile was blacked out more than the President's secret coding she wouldn't doubt that Hill had no idea she had even been in Afghanistan much less a prisoner. "And we've just been informed of the touchdown of both Bruce Banner, and Captain Rogers."

"Good." Anna nodded, looking around the deck to make sure they were doing their job. She met the eyes of a pack of men that were intent on her, but they all hastily broke up the minute they realized they were being watched by their target. "Direct them here, where is the Director?" She turned back to Hill just in time to see her drop back on her 'Agent' persona instead of a sneer.

"On the way." Hill nodded.

"And Agent Romanoff?" She returned.

"Went up to meet Banner and Rogers."

"Dismissed then, Agent." Anna, smiled politely, and blanked her eyes, just like a good little diplomat who wanted to tear the eyes out of the person she was talking to. She felt like she went to Washington instead of coming here. As the Agent left her she sighed, stepping over to the table in the center of the command part of the room, she rested against it, with such nonchalance you would think she owned the place, even if you knew nothing about her.

"We're going up!" A man warned, as he walked on deck. Anna turned to look at Director Fury as he came on board, snorting at the man's eye patch. She didn't miss him at all. She watched him, nodding when their eyes met. She received another nod in return as he approached what could be called the Captain's chair if this were really a ship.

Silently Anna watched, calculating and analyzing what she was seeing. The woman was even amused to see a man walk by fumbling with the buttons on his new; it had to be because they had just released it, Stark & Vinci phone. Anna didn't even bother responding the lift into the air, or the drop in her stomach. She achieved that feeling every time she stepped into the Iron suit.

It was only when the Director turned to her that she snapped back into paying real attention. "Annabella Vinci." The Director nodded, placing his arms behind his back, as he waited to achieve maximum height. "Still clutching onto the mantel I see." He grinned.

Anna rolled her eyes, and reached forward to shake his hand, out of common decency. She still didn't trust the man as far as she could throw him, but it didn't mean she didn't have to get along with him. "Still struggling through with the eye I see. I told you, one word and I'll replace it for you." She commented, smiling.

"No, thank you, Ms. Vinci." He said instead. She nodded as he turned back to the controls. She turned her head just in time to see the arrival of Steve Rogers, and Bruce Banner. Neither of them noticed her at first, but she watched them wander around, until Captain Rogers noticed her amused eyes and blushed.

His response was to shuffle over, offering his hand.

"Ms. Vinci." He greeted as they shook

"Steve, good to see you." She grinned; more relaxed around him than when she was running late for her date. "How'd you enjoy the videos?"

"Very helpful, I can finally work a toaster." He smiled as well and Anna giggled at his joke, turning when a silent and very hesitant Dr. Banner arrived at the Captain's side. It didn't take a genius to realize that Bruce Banner was a nervous and cautious man; she could see his eyes roaming around at the guns and the likely hood he would 'hulk out', it made her amused more than cautious around him.

"Dr. Banner." She smiled, reaching out a hand for him to shake. He glanced at it, but didn't hesitate to shake her hand. Her smile broadened into a grin. "I'm glad to finally meet you, you're work with gamma radiation is unparalleled and fascinating." She squeezed his hand before dropping it, and laughing. "I'm afraid I wrote my dissertation on your theory." She paused. "My second one." She laughed. "It's just nice to finally meet the man I wrote the paper on."

"My pleasure, Ms. Vinci." He answered. "I've heard a lot about your work as well, of course who hasn't." He gestured vaguely to her but she understood, the Iron woman suit is what he meant, and she grinned.

"Thanks, I tried." She turned when the retro-reflection panels were engaged, and the Director turned to her. "I see they're working as planned?" She wondered.

"Thanks to you, of course Ms. Vinci." He agreed, but looked to the two men she was conversing with and then to her. "And where is Mr. Stark, this morning?" He almost sneered. Ah, there was Tony's ability to alienate everyone in the room again.

"He's currently incapable of coming to help, but I was available." She narrowed her eyes, and brushed her fingers against her shirt to mock the man. "I don't know if you noticed but we do have the largest company in the world to run and take care of, not to mention certain requirements of owning the Iron suits." She brushed him off, turning to look around the place once again, what can she say? After all these years she still couldn't take it when people thought they could get away with fucking with Tony Stark in front of her. "Excuse me, if I enjoy having at least one person at home to tie up loose ends, Director." She yawned loudly though.

The Director didn't even bother to roll his eye just shook his head and grimaced. She imagined he was looking at her as if she was a child, a very petulant child. Perhaps she would have been in a better mood had he not interrupted her date night, and then left her with enough work to look over to start an entire school around.

She didn't however miss the exchange of a ten dollar bill to Fury, from the Captain of all people. Her eyebrows furrowed and she opened her mouth to ask but the Director was already moving on to Dr. Banner.

Anna instead, watched Steve Rogers walk along the catwalk to look at the large glass window panes. "-accessible wireless camera on the planet." She heard Coulson say and she looked down to them, to realize that they were now speaking about something she might have needed to know.

She groaned, scrubbing her temple, but instead walked to Natasha, who was leaning down on the catwalk to check on a facial recognition scanner for Clint. When Natasha realized she was beside her she smiled, clasping Anna's hand tight. "Hey, Nat." Anna greeted. "Have you found out what happened with Clint yet?"

"We have video surveillance that was recovered from the site, but we have yet to find Agent Barton." The red head remarked.

"By the way, loving the new haircut." Anan complimented, always smiling, but it didn't mask the sadness behind it. As far as she was concerned, Clint Barton was her friend and she was going to get him back. That was really one of the only reasons she wasn't at the Tower now with Tony, sleeping.

"How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Anna heard Bruce say and her mind switched from Clint to the current situation. Apparently some man came in and stole the tesseract, and now they didn't know what they were planning next.

"How many are there?" Fury asked, rhetorically back.

"We'll have Stark & Vinci contact people." Anna nodded.

"Call every lab you know." Bruce told them, looking between Fury and Anna. She smiled and nodded at his decision. Anna knew what he was doing, but she also didn't want to do it herself. Plus, she figured he could use some interaction in the real world for now, what with being in Calcutta for so long. She bounced in place, picking her cell phone out of her pocket, swiping over it and then turning her thumb and forefinger in a circle on the screen. "Have them put the spectrometers on the roof."

"Sir, yes, sir." Anna pressed down and JARVIS processed the instructions. "I'm here to help you, so just tell me where you want me, what you want, and what I can do for you."

"We'll need to rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places. Can you help with that?" Bruce asked, absently glancing at Fury, who nodded. It wasn't like Anna hadn't already been in the helicarrier, or designed and upgraded the monstrosity.

"Come on, we've got a lab for us to work on." She invited, motioning to the doors that stood opposite the ones that they had come in at. "We'll be able to set up a basic station with my portable equipment. Surely we can find something on this ship to work with." She started to walk, making sure the man was walking behind her. It was only as he went to take off his jacket that she realized anything of what he was wearing, a purple button up and grey suit. Cute, and it made her want to cuddle him like a child even though he would possibly turn into a giant green man bent on smashing everything in the vicinity.

"You'll enjoy my little play room, but unfortunately it doesn't even hold up to the Tower's technology." She mourned, taking a left, with the scientist behind her watching every way he could. The corridors weren't so much crowded as they were similar. Anyone who didn't know where they were going already would be lost, she was sure.

"I'm sure." He said. "Times Magazine says that you have the most up to date lab equipment and company in this century." Banner grinned and Anna smiled back at him.

"Yeah, that magazine thinks if it keeps singing my praises I'll give'm an interview. Don't worry about it. Maybe some time you can make it over, and I can show you the equipment, you'd love it, its candy land for smart people." She turned twice more until she came to the lab, where all the boxes had Stark & Vinci plastered on the side. "This is our little spot." She pushed in the code, and entered with a grace that suggested she'd been there to many times to care about it.

"Cozy." Banner noted, turning to look at all the windows surrounding the lab. "Open." He said, motioning with a hand not holding his grey jacket coat at the window that looked out into the sky around them.

"Thanks, I designed it." She paused. "Or most of it. Fury asked for some things but it is mostly my design." Anna yawned, scratching at her jaw bone. A beep went off on her phone and she picked it up from where she'd been lazily carrying it in one hand. "JARVIS says that all the spectrometers have been arranged, with the haste required." Anna turned to survey the room, sighing.

"Let's get to work?" Banner asked.

"I'm just saying that the levels that the tesseract seems to spit off is too low to cause a reaction to your own exposure." Anna argued. Currently she had spent what felt like an entire day in Bruce Banner's company. If she didn't know for sure she was in love with Tony Stark, she would have sworn that she was in love. She would settle for science buds though.

"The capabilities of it though are also high, as it has never been tested and the readings show occasional spikes in the radiation coming from it." Bruce pointed to the screen hanging from the ceiling. Anna grinned, reaching out to tap the screen, causing the work on it to refresh, and the multiple calculations on it to disappear.

"It's highly illogical to think that the tesseract would have the same reaction as the spear," She pointed to the paused video in front of them. To be clear on how this argument started, Anna made sure to point to the video. Director Fury should have known that sitting two very genius level scientists in a room together was a bad idea. But Anna assumed he forgot to count her as a genius. Most people didn't realize that she had multiple degrees and usually made the products that her company made.

They probably thought that she was a fluke, even though she hacked their systems in less time than it took to hack into the McDonald's cashier servers. Anna scratched her chin, and bounced off of the table she had been sitting on. Bruce was standing next to the table, turned towards her.

"Yes, well I shouldn't have to chance it as I won't be getting close to him." Bruce told me, seemingly coming back to hisself. Anna grimace, and rolled her eyes. He had been doing that half way through all of their conversations. She brushed it off, and opened her mouth to get his views on the use of robots and how they take away the jobs of the regular humans, but was cut off when the screen she had touched cleared itself, and instead showed Director Fury.

"There's been a match, 79%." He stated.

"For Loki? Where is he?" She asked, touching her Stark & Vinci pad that had been brought up for her little playroom here. JARVIS had downloaded as much information about Loki that they had, from childish books to the complicated video of him coming here. There was apparently no other video recordings of the man being here on earth, but there was a time where a large metal man, not looking like the Iron man suit thankfully, had been blamed on his doing.

"Stuttgart, Germany, 28 Konigstrasse." He listed off and must have sent it to her, because JARVIS pulled up a location beacon, and showed the new video being taken of the man. Ann pursed her lips. "We believe he is infiltrating a museum opening currently taking place there." The woman glanced from the screen to Bruce's face, the man patiently paying attention with the nervous energy of someone who wanted to know what was going on, but not enough that he became involved.

"Great, are we going after him?" Anna pulled the screen until the man was following her as she picked up a case carrying her remote for the Iron man suit. It was only in a case because it was easier to carry then just taking the remote. She'd lose it if she only carried the remote places with her.

"Captain America has been sent out to neutralize the attack along with Agent Romanoff and a few spare agents in case he has back up." Director Fury reported to her in a monotone voice. It was very obvious that the Director did not respect the fact that she owned the company and Anna could feel the vein right in the middle of her forehead flex in frustrated annoyance. If anything was her pet peeve, it was someone being disrespectful to her who didn't know her.

"And?" Anna let her eyebrow rise. The Director's face showed his own frustration.

"We ask that you also accompany him to the sight, should he need back up against the Norse god." Anna grinned at the man.

"There, that didn't take to much effort, did it?" She didn't wait for a response, instead flicking her finger across JARVIS' screen and he cut the connection on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s screen. "Sorry, Doctor I have to go for now." She winked, dashing out of the door and toward where her suit was waiting in a vault in the lower drop rooms, where she could just simply zoom out of the doors when she was suited up.

Putting on the suit felt like a second skin, but Anna was already feeling adrenaline as she met up with the ship which she presumed, and was confirmed by JARVIS, the Captain was on. She couldn't wait to see what this man from another world was made of. She kind of hoped it was chocolate, because she was starting to get hungry.

**Well, turns out that I finished this and forgot that I had. So, here you go. It's still just Anna but I hope that you don't mind. That's right, for all inquisitive minds I am going to be putting Ava in here. I thought I had waited for long enough to let you know that she will be in this one. It'll be hard and challenging but I don't mind doing it, if I can just decide what to do with Ava. **

**So I hope you all enjoy this, and let me know that you enjoy it. For now I have a novel project to work on and little tie to do anything about it.**


	4. This is how an angel dies

Her main concern upon arriving in Stuttgart was the arrest warrants that were still being issued for Tony. JARVIS was kind enough to point them out and she rolled her eyes. It was just her luck that the German's still held Tony's little incident against him. One little time he had gotten drunk in Germany and they had practically closed the stated down to get him to leave. It was the last time she bet Tony that he could out drink a German out of stock.

"Ms. Vinci we've caught sight of the target and have dropped Captain America down." Nat's voice came through the intercom of her suit. She turned her helmet to look around for the man, from the building's roof that she was currently standing on. It wasn't optimal but both Nat and Captain America were both sure that she shouldn't come in first.

Maybe it was Tony's rash temper that made her want to run into the battle first but, it didn't matter. She may have had a higher intellect but Nat and Captain America both had a one up on her in experience at this kind of thing. Although she liked to think that she had at least a little experience now with fighting villains. Hell, she felt like a comic book hero in a story.

It was while she was glancing around that JARVIS zoomed into the battle, or the conversation that was taking place below her. "Nat," Anna rolled her eyes. "It's Anna, how many times do I have to tell you? Or at least use my code name or something, sheez." She rolled her shoulders, uncomfortable. It wasn't the suit that hurt her, but her lack of sleep. Or maybe it was the fact she was itching to help out with the man she could see below her.

He was so weird looking that the itch might have been from the golden horns on his head or the odd armor he wore that made her want to take him out. At least she could give him some pointers on what not to wear, because although she wasn't overly attached to fashion any more she knew that horns did nothing for intimidation. The spear, however, was a completely different kind of intimidation.

It was longer than in the security videos and Anna wondered if it could change forms, and if it could, could he? "JARVIS snap in on the spear for me." She asked, hunching down. There wasn't even a battle going on, just people kneeling at the man's feet. Anna guessed it wouldn't be for much longer with Captain America on the way.

Her electronic baby, because she saw JARVIS as friend and child, pulled up her request. "Run as many tests as you can, I want to know the basics of that thing in case he decides to use it." She ached to rub at her shoulders, but for now settled on watching the man, and reading the speech he was giving as JARVIS read it from his lips.

It made her roll her eyes even as an old man stood up from the crowd. "JARVIS calculate possibility of save-" She didn't even get to finish her sentence before the man's spear was pointed at the old man. She cocked her hands, prepared to fly but Captain America beat her to the punch, jumping in front of the blast with his shield. He just managed to force the blast back at the dark man, Loki, she remembered from the files.

Her legs squirmed closer to the edge of the building she was crouched on, if only she could—The Captain wasn't even effected by the blast, no more than being shot back and down to the ground. Captain America was fine. Even Anna could admit he had a certain grace to him, though she had no certain distaste towards the Captain she didn't really prefer him either.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Captain America was something, Anna noted. Swinging her legs to fall over the ledge of the roof she huffed out a breath, and fought the desire to bring up Pokémon on her screen. It didn't look like she was going to be needed, but alas she was on the job regardless of how tired and bored she was. With the way things were going now, with the Captain so tall and proud, Anna was sure she would be just sitting here and not being necessary.

Or she was sure of that until the fight started. She missed most of the dialogue, so JARVIS recorded it, knowing his madams usual attitude. It didn't take long for Anna to read it, and she still wasn't cleared to go in. Unlike Tony she felt as if she should stay where she was until an order came, or she deemed herself the last resort. Plus she got a little gratification from being the last resort, what could she say?

"Nice moves, Captain." Anna teased, yawning.

"Yeah we could use some-" Nat started to say, and Anna perked up but as soon as she was halfway through her sentence the com system was taken over. Anna's eyes narrowed but before she could say anything a very recognizable song came on and she grinned without thinking about it.

"Romanoff," Tony's voice came on over the sound of Shoot to Thrill by ACDC. "You miss me?" Anna cut her connection through JARVIS jumping from her place, kicking on the thrusters so that she came in right at the same time as Tony made it through the buildings. Together they landed, Tony shooting his thrusters right in the face of Loki, while Anna preferred to help the Captain up, knowing that Tony would do fine with the fictional 'Asgardian' in front of them.

It didn't make her less worried about him though. If Clint could be turned by this man, than she worried about Tony, who had no reason to be loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. And really, she barely desired to be in the same vicinity of the people much less loyal to them. She didn't have to look back at Tony but she did, her worry ever present, if only a simmering worry.

It turns out she had no need to worry as Tony was in his armor, every weapon on his shoulders and arms pointed at Horns and she laughed in her suit as he shot off a comment on Loki's horns.

"Make a move, reindeer games." Her fiancé commented, serious and Anna rolled her eyes, turning back to the Captain who was watching the show with rapt attention.

"Are you alright, Steve?" She asked, and he glanced to her in confusing. She remembered, vaguely that he had no idea that Anna Vinci and Iron Woman was the same person. He looked away from her, nodding politely with an equally polite, awkward, smile. She allowed him to walk in front of her, to Tony's side just as Loki flashed golden, his armor being replaced with a calmer, less 'intimidating' outfit. Bless, he got rid of the horns at least.

She paused where she stood beside Tony as he put away his weapons, Loki having his hands up. That was too easy. Whenever Anna and Tony encounter fights there is always a struggle, and Loki just gave up before Tony could even fire a weapon? Anna frowned, muttering blasphemy but her theory didn't have anything to back it up. For all that the genius knew, he could know that Tony wasn't something to mess with, though she extremely doubted it. Nat moved the jet down and she watched it land, before looking around. It was a particular man that she was looking for…

She saw him, the old man who stood up before and she smiled, stepping over to him, where he sat heavily leaning against the fountain. "Are you alright, sir?" She questioned, leaning close so Anna's face plate could see him, pushed a hand out to check his pulse, setting it gently against his neck.

"I'm fine, just a little too much like the war days." He grinned, carefree and she wished he could see her answering smile, but the helmet was necessary at least for now. She'd hate for Germany to realize that Tony and she were here before they were already gone. After all, that arrest seemed like a serious matter when the General screamed for Tony never to come back. She didn't think that ten years would have made him any less angry.

"Heart rate is slightly elevated." JARVIS pulled up the stats he retrieved from the man on one side, and the staff or spear on the other. Anna focused for now on the figures of the old man, muttering for JARVIS to place the other info in a file and download it to all servers.

"Looks like you're going to be alright." She retracted her hand, before hesitantly placing it on his knee in a comforting manner. "Do me a favor, and don't do that again. You gave me a heart attack." He puffed out his chest, smiling crinkly at the iron incased woman.

"I'll always stand up for my country." She grinned at his response, and patted lightly, always careful of her metal fingers, his knee.

"Just try to keep out of trouble for a young woman's sake." She giggled, rising up to come back to the real reason she was here. Loki was already being hoarded into the jet, by a cautious Nat and a less cautious co-pilot that she could care less about right now. She couldn't see the Captain, but the glimmer of his shield sat barely noticeable against the insides of the jet. But was really worrisome was the fact of Tony was waiting for her, his helmet off. Anna winced at his not so happy face.

"Hey, Tony…." She flicked up the helmet, resolved that if something happened it would happen. "See you seem angry…" She took a few steps closer but when Anna did she see the amusement also battling for dominance on his face beside the anger. "Aw, don't be angry Tony; I think I can handle S.H.I.E.L.D." Anna teased, trying to get rid of his anger. She hated it when he was angry at her, like really angry.

"JARVIS was very kind to wake me up _five _hours late to come here, to Germany after telling me that you had already left." He stated and Anna groaned, taking her entire helmet off.

"Don't be angry, Tony…" Anna whined.

"Left me." Tony commented again, before grinning to bend down to kiss Anna on the lips, because even though she was in her suit, she was still shorter then he was, especially with _his _suit on as well. It didn't help that she smiled into the kiss, almost ruining it.

"Ah, you'll get over it, love." Anna placed a hand on his cheek, pressing one more kiss to him before taking a step back and placing her helmet back on. "I'm going to fly around the jet, to keep some kind of barrier between us and them. He gave in way too soon for someone not to be coming to get him."

Tony winked, and opened his mouth, but Anna waved, and hit her thrusters. No doubt that he would want to go sit with Captain America, to form his own opinion of the man. Or more likely, to alienate the Captain, Anna would need to get rid of that habit of his one day but she found it so cute that he liked to test people like that.

And what did it say for Anna that the woman wasn't alienated yet?

Either she was better at paying attention to Tony and what he really wanted, or she was just too strong willed to let him push her away. It didn't matter, she mussed, though she really hoped that he liked her, because marrying someone just because you were the only one to stick around them would be horrible. Anna grinned, even as a connection was made with Tony's armor, but she didn't get a picture from him.

"Hello," He sung. "Now tell me have you been fraternizing with the Cap?" Tony asked, his voice teasing if anything. Anna snorted, even as the jet took off. She assumed, because she was not paying attention, that Tony was inside, and JARVIS' handy enjoyment of letting her know where they both are was the reason behind the connection.

"Oh, shut up," Anna laughed, louder than before. The thrill of flight making her even more joyful then a mission well done. "I just wanted you to sleep; you've been running everywhere lately." She paused to sit in the air, or to wait for the jet to get up to the right height so as not to hit the buildings around it. It didn't take long, considering she designed them to match with the helicarrier and to speed away from explosions that blast up to at least thirty feet past the jets barriers.

"Yeah, I see that." He laughed, but Anna heard another voice in the background.

"Mr. Stark?" She guessed from the voice that it was the Captain.

"Have fun." Anna signed off, pushing herself to circle around the jet, hoping that it wouldn't be to long of a trip back to the helicarrier, she was tired and kind of sleepy. Of course sleeping on the helicarrier was probably not going to happen, Fury had a strict desire to get things done fast.

**I know, I know. What the hell, right? Sorry about the update being so late. I've been scrambling to get anything done that isn't work or school. I'm trying to take better care of my body and that is hard to do when I'm working all the time and stuff. So really I've just had other things to do lately. **

**And the a and shift keys on my keyboard make me so angered that everything I write seems hurried and unthoughtful. If it makes you feel better the next chapter should have Ava in it as well as Anna, buuuuuttttttttt I can't give you a time frame for it. **

**I'm trying to enjoy the only day I don't have to work today. The rest of this week I will be working up a storm and sleeping when I don't because I am a very lazy person and you should all hate me because this chapter is so shorttttttttt.**

**Hit me on tumblr, and it might do some good! **

**I'm ishiparmadas and I know that is shameless of me but I'm lonely.**


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